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Interactive computing

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File:Physically interactive computing - MIT.jpg
Physically interactive computing - MIT

In computer science, interactive computing refers to software which accepts input from humans — for example, data or commands. Interactive software includes most popular programs, such as word processors or spreadsheet applications. By comparison, noninteractive programs operate without human contact; examples of these include compilers and batch processing applications. If the response is complex enough, it is said that the system is conducting social interaction and some systems try to achieve this through the implementation of social interfaces.

Interactive Computing is about a “dialog”, the interaction, between intelligent machine and intelligent person, taking place in the real-world. It’s about building all the technologies and all the competencies required to grow the mechanisms by which that interaction occurs.[1]


History of Interactive Computing Systems

Ivan Sutherland is considered the Father of Interactive Computing for his ground-breaking work on Sketchpad, the interactive display graphics program he developed in 1963. He was soon after, in his position at the ARPA Information Processing Techniques Office under the direction of J.C.R. Licklider, facilitating ARPA's research grant to Engelbart for developing the NLS system at SRI based on his visionary manifesto published in a 1962 Report, in which Engelbart envisioned interactive computing as a vehicle for human interaction with computers, with each other, and with their knowledge, all in a vast virtual information space. In a 1965 Report he published his early experiments with pointing devices, including the mouse, for composing and editing on interactive display workstations. Engelbart's work on interactive computing at SRI migrated directly to Xerox PARC, from there to Apple, and out into the mainstream. Thus, the tree of evolution for interactive computing generally traces back to Engelbart's lab at SRI. [2]

In December 2008, on the 40th anniversary of his 1968 demo, SRI sponsored the public commemorative event Engelbart and the Dawn of Interactive Computing in his honor.

Some common computing systems previously were:

  • Batch interfaces
  • Conversational interfaces
  • Graphical interfaces

Latest Example

IPython provides a rich architecture for interactive computing IPython with:

  • A powerful interactive shell.
  • A kernel for Jupyter.
  • Support for interactive data visualization and use of GUI toolkits.
  • Flexible, embeddable interpreters to load into your own projects.
  • Easy to use, high performance tools for parallel computing.[3]

Current Research on Interactive Computing

The need of constant user interaction in interactive computing systems makes it different in many ways from batch systems. Thus different aspects of computing systems are significantly different for interactive computing systems and they have been focused on different research. The design of a different programming model has been discussed. [4] Another article describes the importance of security and reliability in interactive computing. [5]

The nature of interactive computing as well as its impact on humans, are studied extensively in the field of Human-computer interaction.

Georgia Institute of Technology has a school named School of Interactive Computingwhich has formed in 2007. It is still active and offering masters and doctoral degree by collaborations of more than 40 faculties.

The Tangible Media Group of MIT, led by Professor Hiroshi Ishii, explores the Tangible Bits & Radical Atoms visions to seamlessly couple the dual world of bits and atoms by giving dynamic physical form to digital information and computation.

References

  1. ^ "What is Interactive Computing?". Beki's Blog. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  2. ^ Administrator. "Interactive Computing - Doug Engelbart Institute". www.dougengelbart.org. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  3. ^ Perez, F.; Granger, B. E. (2007-05-01). "IPython: A System for Interactive Scientific Computing". Computing in Science Engineering. 9 (3): 21–29. doi:10.1109/MCSE.2007.53. ISSN 1521-9615.
  4. ^ Perera, Roly (2008-05-14). "Programming Languages For Interactive Computing". Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. Proceedings of the Workshop on the Foundations of Interactive Computation (FInCo 2007). 203 (3): 35–52. doi:10.1016/j.entcs.2008.04.085.
  5. ^ Beaver, Donald (1991-08-11). Feigenbaum, Joan (ed.). Foundations of Secure Interactive Computing. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 377–391. doi:10.1007/3-540-46766-1_31. ISBN 9783540551881.

See also

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